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Winfield Teen Hopes Legislature Passes 'Tebow Bill'

A bill named after Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow is making its way through the West Virginia legislature. It would allow homeschooled students in West Virginia to participate in public school athletics in the same way Tebow did during his high school years in Florida.

Senate Bill 105 would allow homeschooled students to play sports at schools that are members of the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activity Commission.

This legislation would affect students like 15-year-old Bryson French of Winfield, who is homeschooled by his parents Alan and Jennie French. Bryson has played baseball since he was seven years old.

“I always loved it. I don’t think I was always that good at it,” Bryson said. “I know when I was younger I was always a lot slower. I think the dedication and working hard I gradually got better and better. I plan on taking it as far as I can go, definitely into college.”

Without the bill, Bryson can’t participate in state-sanctioned sports like a teen who attends a public school. That means if Bryson wants to play baseball at his age, he can only play in summer travel leagues.

“Right now, where I play for my travel team, we play 30 to 40 games every season,” Bryson said. “All my teammates are playing an additional 20 to 30 maybe 40 games with their school teams, so I’m missing out on half the season that they get to do. The Tebow Bill would give me the ability to play more games. That would get me up to speed with the rest of them.”

Currently, the bill would allow homeschooled students to play sports for the public school district in which they live, but would not allow them to go outside of the district if the school does not offer their sport.

However, opponents argue the bill is unfair, prioritizing the needs of homeschoolers above those actually enrolled in public schools. Bernie Dolan is the executive director for the West Virginia Secondary Schools Activity Commission, the body that oversees high school athletics.

“Currently as the bill is written right now, homeschooled students, or students at non-member private or parochial schools could participate in athletics at our member schools where they are not enrolled,” Dolan said. “That’s our biggest concern. We feel that our number one rule is, if you’re going to participate for a particular school you should be enrolled in that school.”

Bryson’s dad, Alan French, said his decision to homeschool his four children should not prevent them from participating in athletics, especially in a district where he pays taxes to support the schools.

“It is a bill that is providing equal access to students, having fully understood that we did not enroll our children in the school system,” French said. “It is still a public opportunity that is given to students to be able to play these sports or do these activities. We are full members of this community, but are being denied the possibility of him participating with other children his age in those sports simply because we’ve chosen an alternative route of education for him.”

According to the Home School Legal Defense Association, nearly 30 states either allow homeschoolers to participate in sports or allow the school district to decide. However, in a state like West Virginia where school districts are laying off teachers due to declining revenues and shrinking student populations, SSAC’s Dolan notes that this bill may also cause a funding issue.

“Schools get money from the state based on enrollment,” Dolan said. “We’d be paying for students who you’re not getting reimbursement from the state.”

Alan French said one solution is for schools to be given extra funding for homeschooled students wishing to play sports.

There are other concerns about the bill as well, like how GPA and attendance eligibility requirements for athletics would translate for home schooled students. Though French said these issues could be resolved by following the lead of other states that allow homeschoolers to play sports, Dolan said he does not foresee any amendment to the bill that would satisfy the SSAC members.

The Tebow Bill has already been passed by the Senate but has yet to be taken up by the House Education Committee.

November 25, 1896: Athlete Clint Thomas Born in Kentucky

Athlete Clint Thomas was born in Greenup, Kentucky, on November 25, 1896. Thomas was a baseball star in the Negro Leagues in the 1920s and ’30s, during the days of racial segregation.

Among the highlights of his career was a game-saving catch in his team’s defeat of Satchel Paige and the Pittsburgh Crawfords. Another time, Thomas hit a triple off Dizzy Dean and scored the game’s only run in defeating a team of white all-stars in an exhibition. Ankle injuries in 1938 and ’39 ended his playing days. In his two decades in the Negro Leagues, Thomas compiled a lifetime batting average of about .350 and averaged about 25 home runs a year.

After working in the Brooklyn Navy Yards during World War II, Clint Thomas settled in Charleston in 1945 at the suggestion of his brother and went to work for the Department of Mines. In 1954, he became a messenger for the West Virginia Senate and was a familiar figure around the state capitol until the late ’70s, when failing eyesight forced him to retire. He died in Charleston in 1990 at age 94.

Marshall Women’s Basketball hope to improve on 2012-2013 season

Marshall Women’s Basketball Head Coach Matt Daniel is set to tip off his second season in Huntington.

How does the Marshall Women’s Basketball program rebound from a rough first year under new Head Coach Matt Daniel in 2012-2013? They bring in 10 new girls to fill the roster. A year after finishing 9-20 overall and 3-13? in Conference USA play, the Marshall Women hope to fit more into Coach Daniel’s up-tempo style of play.

“Well with 10 new faces you never know how that’s going to equate to wins and losses, but they’ve really jelled together really quickly. I really like the personality of our team and we’re not a group that takes ourselves too seriously, we’re just out here to work hard and try to have a good time and see what happens at the end of 40 minutes,” Daniel said.

Despite adding 10 new girls to the team, five girls with starting experience do return to help steady the transition. Among Daniel’s goals as the coach of The Herd is to bring in local talent. This year Daniel as added freshman Kiana Evans from Huntington, McKenzie Akers from Princeton and Talequia Hamilton—a University of Cincinnati transfer that originally hails from Huntington. Daniel thinks local talent could be the key.

“You know when you’re recruiting kids and you’re establishing who you want to be and I was just talking to President Kopp and I want to do it with kids that are local and I think that’s important that we educate the kids that are within our tri-state area and hopefully at the end of the day try to win a few ball games as well,” Daniel said.

Marshall opens the season November 8^th at home against Bluefield College. The Herd plays 9 of its first 11 games at home and has 18 home days overall. Daniel thinks his group of girls will take to his philosophy of being aggressive and quick.

“Well they’re very coachable and that’s all you can ask and it’s going to be interesting to see. It can get real fun real fast or it can still be a grind, you hope for the best, but you plan for the worst, so we’re just going to go out and we’ll kind of see what’s what then and see where we go, but I’m really pleased with the effort the girls are giving,” Daniel said.

Among those returnee’s is 5^th year senior forward Erica Woods. She said this group is different than last year’s team.

“I have never in all my life seen a group of young ladies come together and jell at once so quickly. Obviously still have a ways to go and there is always room for improvement and things like that, but definitely willing to want to get it right, not be right, but get things right, we’re all about us and not just one person,” Woods said.

Not only is the team changing, but the conference the women play in is changing quickly. With 8 new schools, some of which have had previous national success, play could be tougher than it’s ever been. Woods said with the addition of all the new girls they can play the style that Coach Daniel wants.

“We just have girls that are ready to get after it day-in and day-out and everybody seems to be buying into Coach Daniel’s concept and like I said in practice everything is full speed. And if we don’t go full speed, we run and nobody wants to run, so we just try to do as he says and get in and get out,” Woods said.

Among the newcomers is transfer Talequia Hamilton, who said her transfer back home from Cincinnati was about playing in front of the people she cares about.

“I missed home, I really did. Of the two years I was there I wasn’t

really sure that my heart was in it, but I knew back home that I would get to play in front of my friends and my family, so I’m going to put my all into it,” Hamilton said.

Daniel hopes that home mentality for the local girls can be one of the keys to resurgence.

W.Va. school board to discuss concussion rule

Updated October 9, 2013 1:39 p.m.

The West Virginia Board of Education has postponed consideration of the concussion rule until its meeting next month.

The West Virginia Board of Education is set to vote on a proposal that would require high schools to inform parents, coaches and student-athletes of the risk of sports-related head injuries.

The rule that is up for a possible final vote today also would require schools to report those injuries within 30 days.

     The board took up the issue in August, sending the proposal to a 30-day public comment period. No comments were received.

     Earlier this year, legislators passed a bill requiring the rules aimed at preventing youth concussions.

     The legislation also requires schools to create a written procedure for recognizing injuries and then clearing athletes to return to play, including the written permission of a licensed health care professional.